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And the opening paragraph gets worse from there, something about lighting his pipe with a "promethean torch." Whether it's a change in tastes over the years, or
by jcr 12y ago
And the opening paragraph gets worse from there, something about lighting
his pipe with a "promethean torch." Whether it's a change in tastes over
the years, or a continuing annoyance is subject to debate, but the general
style is called "Purple Prose".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_prose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_prose
- jonnathanson 12y agoTastes have changed, largely because media have changed. Back in the day, there were no movies, video games, TV, or radio. Novels were the only form of personal, portable, escapist entertainment (aside from opium, I suppose). As such, they were very "visual." Readers enjoyed long bouts of description. It helped to set the scene. Sample some mass-market Victorian fiction, and you'll find a lot of openers like that one. The style is anachronistic today, though it survives in some genres, and it has its famous practitioners. (George R.R. Martin is about as purple as they come.)